An Invincible Summer - A Woman's Journey

I had coffee with a new friend. It was interesting and enjoyable. My friend, Louise, has had a fascinating and difficult life. She is the daughter of a narcissist who still, at 92, bullies her and everyone else around her. If anyone has ever encountered a true narcissist, you know how difficult they are. Everything is someone else's fault, shaming those around them, little empathy for anyone but themselves, and a great need to be admired. We talked of Louise's education, with two advanced degrees in Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology, and her work as a college professor. I found she is trilingual. I realized this and reacted with the proper amount of admiration. She looked at me and shrugged, reminding me that it is very common in Europe for a person to be tri or quadrilingual. It occurred to me that our American education system fails us by not looking more outward. The Boy Scout reminded me that most middle schools offer foreign languages. That is my experienc...

I love me some evangelicals! At one point,  that was my life, albeit with some serious doubts. Many of our friends from early in my marriage were of that ilk. Many of my current friends are too.  That’s not me anymore, if it ever really was. I’ve changed a lot. But now I have to wonder…..are these people that I love Christians first and then Americans or is it the other way around? Because I hear a lot of rhetoric that tells me, in reality, they are Americans first. It seems they’re able to set aside the core Christian values when it bumps up against our border. What has happened to: Love your neighbor as yourself. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Let others see your good deeds so that your actions glorify God. Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Even the Old Testament speaks of giving aid to the exiled and the persecuted refugee.  Nowhere does it say, “Except when brown.”  Do they even remember that he...